them when limited to Kings but must consider them as things meerly Divine the greatest tye in the World above all human Laws Consent and Comprehension then all Nations are equally Slaves and born to no more Liberty than the Subjects of Rex Asinerum whose Wooden Shoes and Canvas Breeches proclaim what a blessedness it is to be born under a meer divine Prerogative But the surest Basis of all right Government is common consent and the most just and honourable End is common good and not such a divine Prerogative as none can understand nor possible for any Mortal to prove God is not more the Author of Regal then of Democratical Aristocratical or any other Form of Government or Power nor more the Author of Supreme than of Subordinate Powers Subordinate Magistrates have their Power as much from God as Kings have and as responsible to God only as they and yet their Powers are not beyond human reprimand and determination Laws are not now to be understood to be any special Ordinances immediately sent from Heaven as of old by the Ministry of Angels or Prophets they now can be nothing else amongst Christians but the Pactions and Agreements of such and such Politick Societies and Power nay the very Essence of Power is so Originally inherent in the People that they cannot justly without injury to God and Natures Law devest themselves wholly of it and it is nothing else but the Might and Vertue which such or such a Society of Men contains in it self and when by such and such Laws of Common consent and Agreement it is derived and deligated into such and such Hands God confirms that Law and so Man is the free natural and voluntary Author the Law is the Instrument and God is the Establisher of both All other Powers not derived from common consent of the People are but Sophisticate and Adulterate in all Princes and they that imbrace such Powers imbrace a Cloud instead of a Juno The Fountain or Efficient Cause of Power is most certainly in the Governed And from hence the inferrence is just That Kings though singulis majores yet are universis minores for if the People be the true efficient cause of Power as undeniably they are its a Rule both in Nature and Politicks quicquid efficit tale est magis tale Hence it 's manifest that as the Governed are the efficient cause so they and their happy estate and condition are the final end of all Governments And it were strange nay monstrous that in conferring and deligating their own Power and Vertue to this or that Man or to these or those Persons to command in Chief for Order and Regulation sake only should aim at any thing but at their own Good and Happiness both in the first and last place Or to express it in another Dialect the Publick Power and Authority of all Societies is above every individual contained in the same Societies of what quality soever Kings or not Kings All Imperial and Royal Dignities are instituted by the Commonwealth to preserve it self and not erected to preserve Royal Dignity otherwise or farther than it conduces to the Honour Safety and Happiness of the Commonwealth And that which is the End is far more honourable and valuable both in Nature and Polity than that which is the Means which leads us to the transcendent Law of Salus Populi to which all Imperial and Prerogative Laws are justly subservient and were they not conducing to those ends they were neither necessary nor yet expedient Plea of Force or Conquest cannot acquit Princes of that which is due to the People who are the Authors and Ends of all just Power for meer force ought not to alter Laws of Nature or frustrate the tenor of Laws of God or Man and if it could yet there were more reason why the People might justifie force to re-gain their undeniable Rights and Franchises than the Imperialists might to subvert the same It being unnatural that any Nation by it's own inherent and natural Virtue and Prowess should meerly establish Tyranny and countenance Slavery and to make that which is most Excellent subservient to that which is most Vile or to advance one from among themselves to the Throne that they themselves might be brought under Axes and Harrows Even Heathen Princes that have been Absolute have acknowledged themselves Subject and Servants to the Publick and born for that service as being well satisfied Populi rem esse non suam No Captain-General hath such unlimited and uncircumscribed Power but that if he should turn his Cannon upon his Soldiers they were ipso facto absolved of all Oaths of Allegiance and bound by a higher Duty both to God and Nature to preserve themselves by Resistance and Defence such tacite and implicite Trusts and Reservations are in all Publick Governments though of the most Absolute Nature and there must be these necessary conditions viz. that the Governed be Safe Free and Happy There is in all Laws a literal and an equitable sense No Government did ever give Power to their Kings for their woe but for their happiness If by the Letter of the Law Kings mis-improve their Power against the equity thereof then they give liberty to the commanded to refuse Obedience to the Letter for the Law taking abstract from its Original Reason End and Equity becomes a Shadow without a Substance a Body without a Soul which distinction if not allowed the very end of all Laws which is to minister impartial Justice indifferently to every Man and to give bounds and limits to the exorbitant wills of Princes and Governors will be disappointed Salus Populi being the Suprema Lex Execution of Laws according to their Equity and Reason is the Spirit that gives life to Authority the Letter kills Equity is so naturally implied in all Laws that are not meerly imperial from the Analogie that all bodies Politick hold with the natural whence all Government and Governors borrow a proportionable respect except we deem Obedience binds Men to cut their own Throats or their Neighbours For Kingdoms must not be without means to preserve themselves which always is intrusted in some certain hand with a Power to provide in an orderly way for the good and safety of the whole All the Priviledges Prerogatives and Authorities conferred on Kings by any People are but as so many Trusts reposed in them to improve for the good and glory of King and Kingdom and not to abuse or use at their own pleasure what ever the exegency of the Kingdom should be If that were so all our Laws would signifie little and therefore if Kings Govern not according to Equity and the Trusts reposed in them that Nation or it's Representatives may demand an Account and Redress For Kingdoms by no Law of God or Nature are to be left without a power and means to preserve themselves The Charter of Nature entitles all Subjects of all Countries to safety and freedom by its Supreme Law. If
Three words viz. Bellarmine thou L. CHAP. XI Kings not lawless but bounded by Laws and are accountable to those who intrusted them with their own Power Oaths and Covenants between King and People are equally binding Reciprocal Duties between Parents and Children Masters and Servants King and People The Power of the People is by the Law of Nature that of Kings is from the People and fiduciary As the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God so the Sword of the Magistrate is the Law of God and of Man. Obedience is a Holy thing when yielded to just commands but void and sinful when referred to unjust and then natural Defence succeeds in its room No mean between a Saint and a Bruit Law by the Judgment of the wisest Heathen is both Lord and Kings of Men. Vujust force may lawfully be resisted by force WHAT hath been hitherto written is diametrically opposite to that Pulpit Leviathan Doctrine of quod libet licet and that Kings are obliged to no Laws nor accountable to any but to God. So Julia the Mother-in-law to Antoninus Basianus Caracalla the Emperor her Son-in-law most impudently Si libet licet nescis te imperatorem esse leges dare non accipere Dost thou now know that thy Will is a Law and that it is thy right to give not to accept Laws from any And he acted accordingly If this be good Doctrine that Jure Regio they are absolved of all Laws and though they violate all human Constitutions yet are guiltless or unaccountable to any but to God alone certainly then there never was a Tyrant nor ever can be if they had been so capacitated by any Law of God or Nature as some most impudently have printed God would never have prescribed them Laws nor have punished them for breach of them What is this less than to render Mankind made a little lower than the Angels and after the similitude of God himself to be governed no better than Bruits Can it ever be supposed that God would ever subject his own similitude the Race of Mankind for whom he hath done such great things to be harrassed pilld poled governed tyrannically without any hope of Redress till the day of Judgment Or that any People should be so void of Counsel and Sense as voluntarily to subject themselves and their Posterity to such abominable slavery and to make Kings to govern and Laws to be governed by and both sworn to the observation of them in the presence of God Almighty and yet to esteem Kings not obliged by those Sacred Ties to keep them The Basis and Establishment of God's own Throne are righteousness and judgment and mercy and truth go before his face Psalm 89. 14. 97. 2. And if they who call themselves God's Lieutenants or Vice-gerents govern by Violence and Oppression as they all do that govern not by an immediate appointment of God or by common consent of the governed a fire shall go before them and burn them up as enemies to God and man Psalm 97. 3. And whoever acquires a Power over any People whether by dint of Sword or by cunning Craft or by consent of Parties and useth it to the detriment and not for the good of the People are not to be esteemed as rightful Kings but as Enemies and Tyrants Be it so say the Pulpiteers but by what Law shall they be punished or reproved Even by them and by the same Right and Law that they themselves are there 's no exceptions And no Law of God or Nature ever prescribed Impunity for Oppression and Tyranny and Wickedness over Men He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God. So spake the rock of Israel unto David himself a King 2 Sam. 23. 3. It 's righteousness that establisheth the Throne and it 's an abomination for Kings to work wickedness So King Solomon Prov. 16. 12. When Solomon Eccl. 8. 2. 34. prescribes to keep the Kings commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God and not to stand in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What dost thou All these are ever to be understood of things lawful to be commanded and of things lawful to be done otherwise this undoubted Truth is to be observed viz. we ought to obey God rather than man Acts 5. 29. Besides Solomon's counsel here was to single and particular Men not to Assemblies and Dyets and Senates and Parliaments and great Councils who have a share in making Laws and consequently co-ordinate in the Government Though all Writs Processes of Law Executions and Edicts pass under the Title of one single Person for the sake of order yet he that sendeth out Writs is to be obedient to those very Writs and to those Laws as well as they to whom they are sent Besides what Generation of Christians in the World so void of Reason as to swear Fealty and Allegiance to Kings except they again reciprocally swear to observe the Laws Divine and of their Country So the Rubenites and the Gadites and the half Tribe of Manasseh promised obedience to Joshua but as they did to Moses on condition that God be with him as he was with Moses Jos 5. 17. If they can shew a Patent from Heaven as Moses and Joshua had by an immediate Call and God's Promise to be with them as he was with Moses and Joshua never to fail them nor forsake them then may we all lay our hands on our mouths and proceed no farther Job 40. 5. And yet if they had the like Patents yet from such Patents no Authority could be drawn to oppress or tyrannize over any People but if not so nor so why should not Christians in whose inward parts God hath put wisdom and who hath given understanding to their hearts who make Kings from among themselves and take Oaths of them for performance of Agreements maintain and defend their own just Rights and Liberties God never broke his Covenants but punished the People that brake theirs and why should his Vicegerents break their Covenants and yet be thought guiltless or unquestionable The Jews who were the most stif-neckt most rebellious and most ungrateful Nation under the Cope of Heaven and provoked God to the uttermost as if they did it purposely to non plus and pose his very Mercy and they provoked Moses also the Man of God and the meekest Man upon Earth beyond all his Patience so that he cast the very Tables of the Testimony the Work of God and the Writing of God graven upon the Tables out of his hands and brake them beneath the mount Exod. 32. 11 16 19 32. yet was he so far from oppressing or tyrannizing over them that he wrastled with God Almighty with strong and importunate Prayers for their Good Why doth thy wrath wax hot against this People nay so importunate was he for their Pardon that though
Forces to their aid and assistance She did the like by sending Succours to the Scots whereby she delivered them from Slavery and Popery against Mary Queen of Scots and the Guises So she did most earnestly mediate and interceed by Letters and Embassies with the King of Spain who had violently Tyrannized and Oppressed the Netherlanders by his bloody Edicts both in their Laws Liberties and Religion and not prevailing she sent them Mony and Arms and took them into her Protection by which she relieved and established them in that flourishing Condition they now are in both able and willing gratefully to return the same Kindness to this our Kingdom in her great distress by the like bloody Papists In which she had not only the Judgment and Assistance of her Parliaments but their Purses also And also the Opinion and Approbation of her Clergy in their Convocation with their Subsidies all which they would not have done if they had held all Resistance unlawful And sure this Historian will not deny that the Queen and her Parliaments and Convocations were true Church of England Men so he may make it the Corner-Stone and distinguishing Character if he please of a true and of a mungril Church of England Man And if he do I doubt he will approve himself no Nathaniel no true Church of England Man. To what then doth all this Bravado of Articles Canons Homiles Liturgies c. tend but to the bespattering of the purest Church in the World with such Doctrines as she is no ways guilty of and to introduce and usher in Popery again which was rushing in upon us with a mighy torrent by the slight of such prevaricating wits that lay in wait to deceive until his Majesty did Abdicare se magistratu but thanks be to God we are not such Children as to be tossed to and fro and carried away from the Truth with such cunning Craftiness Happily King James I. if consulted may be found to favour the same Opinion when in his Speech in Parliament 1603. declares himself to be a Servant and that as he was Head and Governor of all the People in his Dominions who were his natural Vassals and Subjects considering them in Number and distinct Ranks but considering the whole People as one Body and Mass then as the Head is ordained for the Body and not the Body for the Head so must a righteous King know himself to be ordained for his People and not his People for him and therefore professeth that he will never be ashamed to confess it to be his principal Honour to be the Servant of a Commonwealth and ever to think the Prosperity thereof to be his greatest Felicity And in his Speech at White-hall Anno 1609. March 21. saith That every just King in a settled Kingdom is bound to observe the Paction which God made with Noah after the Deluge therefore a King leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to Govern by his Laws as the poor Widow to Philip of Macedon Either Govern according to your Laws Aut ne Rex sis Therefore all Kings that are not Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Laws And they that persuade them to the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Which Premisses do naturally yield this Conclusion without wresting viz. That Kings not Governing according to their Compact and Laws made by their Subjects are Perjured and become Tyrants and may be curbed opposed and withstood Thus much only by way of Specimen to incourage other more learned Pens to make farther proof it being every Mans Duty to contribute what he can towards the support of that Government under which he lives no Government being obliged to support those who will not support it which incourageth me to cast in my Mite also and the rather because I observe some Prints so virulent as to ill-characterize the greatest Wisdom and wisest Men of the World and to make common Sense and truest Equity and the most undoubted Right of the whole World Treason and Rebellion and so to be owned and practised in Extremities by all Nations Vim vi repellendo Which being always to be understood of unjust Force the Defence must be just and it 's impossible to be made either Treason or Rebellion by any other Law than that the Foxes Ears were Horns And others would make this wild conjecture of Passive Obedience without reserve as the Corner-Stone and distinguishing Character of the Church of England from all other reformed Churches which deserves a Sponge and Reprimand and not an Answer AN ADMONITION TO ALL Christian EMPERORS KINGS PRINCES c. ALL Emperors Kings Princes and Governors ought most seriously to consider That tho' by the Providence of God and good will and choice of Men they are set on high yet they are not Kings and Lords and Princes in their own right and in such manner as that they are not obliged to acknowledge a Superior Dominion What are they but Vassals to God by whose Providence they hold their Crowns and Scepters Lives and all by fealty and homage And what are they but Administrators and Trustees of the Governed to see the Laws made by them indifferently and equally executed for the Peace and Happiness of whole Kingdoms And who knows not that in recompence of their Care and Pains that this is one of the chief Conditions or Laws of Subjects that they do Support their Kings and Governors and that they keep Fidelity with and pay Tribute Reverence and Service unto them So strict is this Obligation that in all cases of danger Subjects are bound to aid and assist them and to yield all the Duties of Honour Friendship Reverence and Respect and to take up Arms on their behalf against their very Bretheren and Children and to pay them Tribute for their Grandeur and Support where Faith and Honour are concerned an Eternal blemish will remain on the violation thereof If they offend their Kings by unjust contrivances and blemish their Dignity and Honour by unjust aspersions if they plot contrive and wage War unjustly against them if they desert them in a time of danger if they treacherously conceal any that endeavour to kill imprison or damnifie them if they do not deliver them when in danger if it be in their power to do it they are then guilty of Treason Seeing therefore Kings require so much Fidelity from their Subjects for defending their Persons States and Dignities who are but Men on both parts in how much greater Obligations and under what severer Penalties are Kings themselves bound towards the giver and bequeather of their Crowns and Scepters for the defence of his Kingdom and People against all Rebels and Traitors to his and their Laws But ah the misery of human blindness All Princes are ready to cry out that when any Man becomes guilty of such breach of Faith towards them it
Honour to declare them with Christian Charity and reprove them with Christian Modesty Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin to fall upon him Levit. 19. 17. whether he be of a great or little Figure in the World it matters not Go tell Judah of her sins and Israel of her transgressions be who will pleased or displeased therewith By which it appears that though Reproofs and Admonitions have been the Duty of every person from the very beginning of Religion Cry aloud spare not lift up your voice like a trumpet proclaim defiance sound a challenge and charge against them shew the people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Isaiah 58. 1. yet they are seldom or never acceptable but on the contrary get hatred to those that discover their Dalilah's their bosome sins but their comfort is that by reproving they fulfil God's Precepts and he that hateth reproof erreth is bruitish and shall die Pro. 10. 1. 15. Pro. 12. 15. Pro. 10. A most strange and unhappy temper to return hatred for good will to hate those that show the greatest kindness that possibly mortal Man can show he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured and is prudent Prov. 13. 18. Pro. 15. 5. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding ver 32. As to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities is a great Crime to be punished by the Judges so there is a wo to them who call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness Isaiah 5. 20. Wherefore if they whose immediate Duty it is to tell Judah of her Sins and Israel of her Transgressions will by a sinful compliance be silent or daub with untempered Mortar not daring to declare plain Truths which is tant à monte a tacite giving consent and countenance to publick Sins and Injuries by such their connivance and dissimulation I hope they will not blame those who dare call Vices by their proper names I am ignorant of such quirks of Conscience which so much injure Justice and Piety as by such perverting the plain Truths of Religion and prevaricating with God Almighty by pleasing Men rather than Truth as if both might not and ought not to stand together as if a due respect to Men even to great Men and a just censure of Sin and Wickedness might not justly be maintained So that if any thing in this present discourse seem more harsh or severe than usual it is intended against the Vices and Abuses of the Powers not against the Persons nor any just Powers If they are Truths that I have declared I ought not to be blamed if Errors they 'l easily be discovered and refuted and the greater Truth will appear If I have committed Errors and injured Truth I am sensible of my own Infirmities and that Reason is seldom so perfectly reduced to Science but that I and all others may be mistaken Humanum est errare Let those that shall discover such Errors consider that they themselves are Men and subject to like Errors and Frailties and may be deceived and that possibly when by disquisition a greater Light may discover that that may be the Readers mistake which he esteemeth may be the Writers Error In summ All the Glory of Kings and Kingdoms ought to serve God by judging righteously by countenancing the Faithful of the Land and not suffering the Wicked to influence their Councils and by walking wisely in a perfect way and by hating the Works of them that turn aside and by not suffering those that have high Looks and proud Thoughts as being made choice of by him to administer in his Kingdom as Nursing-fathers of his people Isaiah 49. 23. God blessed for ever who setteth up Kings and removeth them doth only love the Principality and Kingdom of his own Eternity and himself continually addeth to the Glory and Enlargement thereof but willeth and expecteth the same from all Kings Princes and Governors of Temporal Scepters to do the same and that under severe Menaces and Penalties Whatever therefore of Inlargement Glory Stability the carking Cares or Designs of the great Men of the Earth may project and promise to themselves by being Kings and Princes on the Earth they are all but magnificum nihil toys gewgawes and vanity in the sight of God when put into the Ballance with that Kingdom which Christ alone loveth respecteth and desireth and unto which unless they be heartily subservient to serve and inlarge the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ they shall become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor and the wind shall carry them away and the God of Gods and Lord of Kings shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces all other kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Dan. 2. 44 45 47. If Kings will not kiss the Son nor do their Duty in purging the House of the Lord may not Eliah and the People do their duty and cast out Baal 's Priests Reformation of Religion is a personal act that belongeth to all even to every private Person according to his place they may swear a Covenant without the King if he refuse and build the Lords House themselves 2 Chr. 15. 9. and relieve and defend one another if oppressed for our Acts and duties of defending our selves and the oppressed do not tye our Consciences conditionally so the King consent but absolutely as all duties of the Law of Nature do Jer. 22. 3. Prov. 24. 11. Isaiah 1. 17. 58. 6. Be wise now therefore O ye kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that trust in him Psalm 2. Therefore it becomes you that sit upon Thrones to observe and obey the true unquestionable divine Lex Regia to you it is commanded Deut. 17. 18 19 20. viz. to read in the Book of the Law all the days of your lives that you may learn to fear the Lord your God to keep all the words of the law and the statutes to do them that your hearts be not lifted up above your brethren by whom and from among whom ye your selves were chosen and set in great Glory Honour and Dignity to go in and out before them judging righteously and that you turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left do violence to no man for God hates the violent man and evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him Psalm 140. 11. Be content with your Tribute and exact no more than what is appointed you by publick consent take care that there be no violent perverting of Judgment no shamming of
expressed to which the King himself did assent and by his Diploma approved of it Which Transaction if violated by him all his Subjects Feudataries c. both present and to come shall neither obey nor serve him but shall rather be subject to obey the Duke of Burgundy and his Successors Such was the issue of the violation of Royal Faith plighted And may not all Kingdoms expect the just performance of their Oaths and Stipulations made by their Kings at their Inaugurations who are thereby made the Keepers and Protectors of their Laws And what better Issue can any Kings expect that violate their Oaths and Trusts though by Wiles and Shams and Royal Influences only on Judges and other Officers of their Kingdoms through whose Hands the management of Laws do pass Judges Sheriffs Justices of the Peace Constables Privy-Counsellors Juries c. In summ The chief Impery is so in Kings and other Supreme Magistrates that if they transgress the Laws and turn Tyrants and will not be governed by just Laws unto which they have Sworn it is the just right of Inferior Magistrates and Ordines regni to hinder their Tyranny and reduce the Government to its Pristine State and Condition And in so doing they are so far from being seditious or rebellious as that they do but their Duty to God and their Country as by the above-recited examples appeareth The truth of which appears by many reasons 1. By the Law of Nature on which depends the preservation of all human Societies of which there can be no doubt In all Pacts and Contracts mutually made and consented unto the same Parties by whom the Obligation was made have the same Power to dissolve the same as often as just Reason shall require So they that have Power to create Kings have Power also to curb and censure them So if the Essential Conditions of the Contract for which the Contract was made be manifestly violated and broken the Contract as between Rahab and the Spies is absolutely void Let those that hold Kings accountable to God only shew if they can any Nation so foolish and unwise that willingly and wittingly without force or fear ever submitted so absolutely to any King or Government that they did not expresly or tacitely provide for their own safety and good by observance of their own good Laws It a Conqueror oblige the conquered by Oaths then according to the Civil Law that those that are extorted by force and unjust fear ought not to be accounted Lawful I confess the Pulpits Preach a contrary Doctrine but it is not possible that irreligious or unnatural Conditions got by force unjust fear fraud or wicked practices should be binding or esteemed as Lawful it being a general Rule of right and just founded on the common Principles of Nature so firm and jure that nothing that is manifestly adverse and repugnant to the Laws of Nature can be held for right and just amongst Men. This is generally to be understood of Pacts manifestly unjust or irreligious which no Man can justly require nor any Man justly submit unto though required Such was the reproachful condition required of them of Gabesh Gilead by Nahash the Ammonite that he might thrust out all their right eyes 1 Sam. 11. 2. Such and worse was the condition required by Antiochus the cruel Tyrant of the Citizens of Jerusalem viz. that they should abjure the true religion 1 Macc. 1. 51. In such cases where the conditions of Temporal estate are only heard and Religion not concerned it is better to have respect to their Oath than to their Lives But when Religion is concerned Oaths must be very strictly observed Though all God's Covenants and Promises are Yea and Amen yet are they all tacitely or expresly conditional so that if they keep not Covenant with God God will not keep Covenant nor Promise with them So though God did solemnly swear unto the children of Israel that he would bring them into that very good land that floweth with milk and hâ—â—y yet suffered he none of them to enter but Caleb who was of another spirit and Joshua doubtless yee shall not come into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell therein Numb 14. 30. and ye shall know my breach of promise or altering of my Purpose verse 34. I the Lord have said I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me verse 35. and that justly because they first broke with him Nehâ—m 9. 16 17 18. there being always some tacite or explicite condition expressed or implied in all such Promises as well as Threatnings Therefore as to one and the other God hath given us this general Rule not only with particular Persons but with Nations Jer. 18. 7 8 9 10. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation or concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destory it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil I thought to do unto them So when ever I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them i. e. will not do it Whereupon St. Jerom saith Non ergo quod pollicetur Deus statim futurum est sed in eos sua promissa implet qui custodiunt mandaâ—a illius Covenants and Promises on Conditions are equally obliging whoever fails the other is free It is the same amongst Men that are in mutual Stipulation and Covenant whoever first breaks Covenant is a Rebel to the Law and the other is â—râ—e For which cause God blamed and punished Zedekiah the last King of the Family of David for that contrary to his Oath he fell from the King of the Chaldeans As I live saith the Lord surely in the place where the King dwelleth that made him king whose oath he despised and whose covenant he brake even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die Ezek. 17. 16. ver per 110. And Zedekiah not only by his Oath but by the express Command of God he and his were to be subject to the King of Chaldaea which circumstances made Zedekiah guilty of that Defection and of Perjury I like not that Subjects should on every breach of Oath withdraw their Obedience and depart from their Oath neither do I approve of that Proverb Fragenti fidem fides frangatur cidem but on the contrary do deem it unlawful to break Faith justly plighted but I do deny that Subjects do violate their Faith against Tyrants if they keeping within their own Bounds and Province do use their utmost to make Tyrants keep their Conditions agreed on and hinder them from breaking of them For the Rule is general That Contracts and Covenants either plainly expressed or tacitely to be understood are broken and dissolved by him
Kingdoms being devolved on one or more chosen from among the Governed if abused naturally returns unto them again who by their good will pleasure and suffrages conditionally conferred it on them and they cannot devest themselves of it Power from them who injures others by the most just law must pass unto them who suffer the Injuries for all Men are equally tied by Laws than which nothing can be more just mortal Gods to do what they list without control there are none among us Without all peradventure they who have right to constitute Magistrates over themselves by devolving and deligating their own power on them to manage and govern them according to their own Laws to see them executed according to the simplicity and sincerity wherewith they were made without shams or tricks or shaping or wresting them to wrong ends and purposes which they are obliged by Oaths the most sacred tye among mortals to observe To them of necessity and of just right doth belong the right of examining and censuring their Actions and of calling them to an Account and to deal with them accordingly Vide Judicium Lutheri Theologorum I. C. Wittiber-gentium de hac questione Tom. Jenens Germ. ap 384 ad p. 396. Martyr comm in cap. 1. Jud. p. 37. cap. 3. p. 60 61. No Law forbids it no Law excepts them Reason Justice and God himself command all Transgressors to be punished without respect or difference of Persons CHAP. XIII Duty of Kings who have Authority from Men. The Right of Legislation The Law of Nature is the Law of God. Kings accountable The Laws and Practices of Antient Kingdoms Roman Grecian Lacedaemonian Carthaginian what severe Laws they made against Arbitrary Power IF Kings did rightly consider as they ought to do their own true interest both in respect of this world and the next they would con their High Prerogative-assertors very little thanks for such their exaltations thereof but would rather esteem them as the very worst Friends they have for whilst they magnify Kingly Powers unto the Skies above the Laws and are not accountable for Mal-government they thereby alarm their Subjects to awaken out of the supposed Dreams of their just Liberty and Interest and to provide for themselves and to shake off the bondage of such unlook'd for Servitude wherewith they would seem to surprize them by such Doctrines And whilst they teach such Infinite Power to be the Right of Kings they thereby render that power to be the more intollerable Whilst they teach Kingly Power to be Omnipotent they excite the People to throw it off rather than to submit to so unjust domination to be the Right of Kings whom they have set over themselves for their good and comfort and not for their vexation As all Kingdoms and Republicks have their Authority in these our days by the Laws of Men to govern so they are obliged by the strictest Bonds of divine and humane Laws to manage their Government in the first place to the glory of God observing his Commandments in general to fear him to walk in all his ways and to love him then to order the Government aright for the good of the Governed by well ordering of Laws according to their simple meaning and true intent without shamming or tricking exemplary encouraging and exhorting their Subjects to Honesty Piety and Justice punishing all such as trangress Gods Commandments especially those of the Decalogue for this Power is not Arbitrary nor given them for their own use only to manage as they please but for the good and benefit of the Governed which they are obliged to do by the Laws of God and Man. Preachments and apprehensions to the contrary may cause even Saints to be misguided and to act beside their Rule and to deem themselves Arbitrators of the Government wherewith they are intrusted by the true Patrons thereof and confirmed and ratified as necessary for the good of the governed by God himself for that over a multitude of People consisting of many and sundry Families as every politick Society doth impossible it is that any should have compleat lawful Authority but by consent of Men or immediate appointment of God who hath power over all and who by the natural Law hath made all subject The lawful Power of making Laws to command whole Politick Societies of men belongeth so properly unto the same intire Societies that for any Emperor Prince Potentate or Captain General of what kind soever on earth to exercise the same of himself or to act contrary to Laws made by publick consent and not either by express Commission immediately and personally received from God unto which it is now utterly impossible that any just pretence can be made or else by authority derived from their consent upon whose Persons they impose Laws it is not better than down right Tyranny Laws nor Powers there can be none lawful which publick approbation hath not made so and the publick power of all Societies is above every Individual contained in the same Societies of what quality soever they be I may confidently divine that no People ever were or ever will be well pleased with Governours that mind more their own benefit pomp and pride of Life than the good and solace of the governed it being the natural and fundamental right of the Governed to deligate as much of their own power without devesting themselves thereof as they think fit to Kings or Republicks subject nevertheless to the trusts reposed in them to be always improved and imployed for the welfare of the Governed All People generally bear and are contented with a moderate Yoak but from too heavy a bondage all naturally endeavour to free themselves by all means though indirect The History of Nodus Gordianus is applicable to all humane tyes and obligations of Governments and sometime or other will have the same fate Therefore it is very indiscreet Zeal in any and much more in Ministers of the Gospel to preach up such Prerogatives to be in the hands of Princes which are always prone to end in the dishonour of God and in publick confusion Lycurgus a Spartan King observing his Neighbouring Princes struggling to get all Power into their hands and thereby ruining themselves and their Citizens he thought it his wisest course to take the Senate to be his Consort in Government and the Power of the Ephori as a check upon himself whereby he established and transmitted a firm Kingdom to himself and his Successors for many Generations Likewise the moderation of Theopompus King of the Lacedaemonians who lived more than One hundred years after Lycurgus was such that he constituted the popular Government of the Ephori above his own Regal Power and gloried that he had left and established a more firm and durable Kingdom to his Children and Posterity No inconsiderable examples if rightly considered nor unworthy to be imitated No Law ever established one Man King and Lord above all Laws neither could they
and sinful Injustice and therefore cannot be from God. Dum contra officium facit Magistratus non est Magistratus quippe à quo non injuria sed jus nasci debet and consequently they who resist the tyrannous acts of Kings do not resist the Ordinance of God. What were it less than Blasphemously to charge God with prevaricating with his People if in Authorizing Kings to preserve them should give them liberty without all Politick restraint to destroy them Which is contrary to God's end in the Fifth Commandment that one Man a King should have absolute Power to destroy Millions of Souls and Bodies uncontrolably If the Kings of Israel and Judah were under censures and rebukes of the Prophets and sinned against God and the People in rejecting such rebukes and in persecuting the Prophets and were under and liable to all the Laws of God as all other People though their Subjects were then is their Power not above any Law nor absolute That these matters of Fact are true sit liber Judex Samuel rebuked Saul Nathan David Elias Achab. Jeremiah is sent to Prophecy against the Kings of Judah Jer. 1. 18. and the Prophets practised it Jer. 19. 3. Ahab could not take Naboths Vineyard against his will without the formality of Law and without the help of Men of Belial to boot for which violence offered to Law and Justice in the place where Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth shed by shamming of Laws by Innuendoes and false constructions of Laws the Dogs did lick the Blood of Ahab and did eat that cursed Woman Jezabel by the wall of Jezrael and her Carkass became as dung upon the face of the field A Document to all Kings and Princes for giving any countenance to Violence or Oppression or to shamming any Laws by any irresistable or prevalent Influences and the Inferior Judges ought not to accept the Persons of any in judgment whether small or great for the judgment is the Lords and their office as much of divine right as that of the Kings then certainly we may justly conclude That Kingly Power is neither above Law nor yet absolute for Kings who swear to Govern according to Law it is contrary to common sense nay impossible they should have an illimited or absolute Power either from God or the People for foedus conditionatum or promissio conditionalis mutua facit jus alteri in alterum it 's not to be thought that Kings can at one and the same time and in the same breath justly swear to Govern according to Law and at the same time interpretatively and secondarily swear to Govern absolutely and without Law. If the governed in Senates Parliaments and Dyets may call in question the Acts Previledges Charters and Commissions of Kings granted to any Persons and null and vacate them circumscribe and dock any of their Prerogatives may increase or diminish his Revenue and State may call into question any of his Friends Counsellors or Ministers of State and punish or remove them If the governed may appeal from Kings to Senates Dyets or Parliaments and may not appeal from them to Kings all which may and have been done as the publick Monuments of Laws do testifie who of sound judgment can deny the Power of the People in Dyets Senates and Parliaments to be above that of Kings If in an Interregnum Senates Dyets and Parliaments have Power and which is plain by Histories without regard had to right of Inheritance have created Kings whom they pleased and altered Successions In summ If Dyets Senates Parliaments are the Supreme Council of Nations constituted by the People indued with Power from them to this very thing that they may consult in common of the weighty matters of Kingdoms and common good and Kings therefore created that they should see executed what they did advise and agree upon quis nisi mentis inops can deny upon such plain evidence and demonstration that the People in Parliaments Dyets and Senates are not only co-ordinate and have a share in the Government but are also in some sense and some places superior to them for that they can do more than Kings Kings have their Prerogatives true and very fit they should have So have all other Governments be their Prerogatives what they will Power of the Militia making War and Peace calling of Councils Dyets Synods Senates Parliaments nominating Judges and other publick Officers of Kingdoms c. they are all derived from the People and transferred for their own good and so always expressed or implied If they make ill use of the Militia it 's a breach of trust and no obligation of Obedience and Submission is due if they make ill Leagues the People not bound to confirm or assist if they call Dyets and Parliaments it is not for their peculiar interests but for the good of the whole and nothing done therein can be of force unless the free assent of the convocated be first had Which demonstrates it is the Office and Duty of Kings to call those great Councils as oft as the People see cause and desire it and to continue them till they have the benefit designed And though the Royal Assent be desired it is but for the Honour of the business for what concerns common good safety and liberty they ought to pass by virtue of their Oaths and Office. Non negabimus non differimus cuique jus aut justitiam Chartae Artic. c. 29. Will not Kings deny Justice and may they deny just Laws Not to private Persons and yet to the Representatives of Nations Not in the Inferior Courts and yet in the Supreme They are created and elected Kings that they should do Justice to all indifferently Bracton l. 3. c. 9. Ad hoc creatus electus est ut justitiam faciat universis per eas nimirum leges quas vulgus elegerit Hence in Archivis H. 4. Rot. Parl. N o. 59. Non est ulla Regis Prerogativa quae ex justitia aequitate quicquam derogat Kings have no Prerogative which derogate from Justice and Equity And when Kings have refused to make or confirm Magnas Chartas good Laws they have been compelled by force of Arms and such Laws accounted as good and valid by the best Lawyers the reason given is That they of right and of their own accord ought to have assented unto that which they were forced to do All Courts of Judicatory are Authorized and Confirmed by Parliament in which it is Lawful for the meanest of Subjects to implead Kings in which Courts Judgment is often given against Kings which though endeavoured to be contradicted or countermanded by Kings yet the Judges by the Laws of God and Man and by their Oaths are obliged to refuse their Mandamus's and to give right Judgment for the judgment is the Lords Kings can justly Imprison no Man nor punish any Man nor seize their Goods or Estate without Citation out of Courts where the Judges not Kings have all the Power So
of Christians True but not the only Weapons lawful resistance of unlawful Force is as true which Divines both Popish and Protestants Bellarmine Turrecremata Cajetan Dominicus Soto Franciscus Victorius Pareus Calvin Eccolompadius Beza Martyr Luther Lavator Zuinglius Bucer Padre Paolo eminent for his great Learning Judgment and Faithfulness in all his Writings Bishop Bilson famous for his incomparable works especially for maintaining Christian Subjection against Unchristian Rebellion Willet Dr. Sherrock Bishop Bedel and other Modern Writers innumerable who following one another confirm the same But yet the said Mr. Clifford in the same Sermon pag. 11 12. is pleased with great confidence to Pulpit it That those that hold such Opinions are but a few deluded Creatures in the Church of Rome and a handful of zealous Fools in the reformed Churches a very severe censure on so many great and learned Men. I much wonder at his daring confidence thus to censure and which is worst to imploy his Priesthood and his Pulpit to rail and to delude his Congregation and the World with Paralogisms and false glosses and misapplications of plain Texts of Scripture as he hath done contrary to the very duty of his Priesthood which is to feed us with Wisdom and Knowledge and not to prevaricate and juggle with plain Texts To instance only in that golden Sentence as he calls it of the Psalmist viz. touch not my anointed Psalm 105. 15. which very Text though more particularly spoken of the Seed of Abraham his Servant and of Jacob his chosen yet it is so clearly and undeniably applicable to God's People in general in whom is all his delight and not of Kings in particular that it cannot be denied nay it is a reproof even to Kings themselves viz. He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm verse 14 15. which also is reinforced Psalm 149. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his People and will put a two-edged Sword in their Hands to bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron to execute upon them the judgment written This honour have all his Saints What is this but to betray and smother and reproach Truth it self very ill becoming Priests of the most high God. He hath done as much by other Texts as Psalm 51. 4. 1 Sam. 8. Prov. 8. 15. And indeed most Texts he quotes he dissembles and puts false glosses upon them But let these pass I only wonder how Priests dare be so sawcy with the Word of God. Neither is it true as often objected That infinite scandals would arise and grow from such Doctrines on the Christian Religion but it is true that they would grow out of the contrary for so should Tyranny be brought into Commonwealths which as a publick fault is more pernitious Even as no more is it true that by this Doctrine there would grow confusions in Families Cities and Kingdoms because every one might defend himself from the Sergeants from the Comito in Gallies and from the Prince who would force them to pay Impositions and Taxes not granted by publick consent For indifferences between Princes and Subjects both cannot have right on their sides but of necessity that if they who use force do it lawfully the defence must be unlawful and where the force is unlawful the defence of necessity must be lawful and therefore vim vi repellere licet is always to be understood of that force which is unjusty used And these Doctrines are most especially to be understood of publick Kingdoms Commonwealths free States and Cities and to preach Patience unto such under Tyranâ—â— and Oppression is a Medicine fitter for mad Dogs than for reasonable 〈◊〉 especially Christians for whose sakes God rebukes even Kings saying Touch not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and do my Prophets no harm Psalm 105. 15. To which sort of Remedy no Man â—bound nay rather oftentimes a Man should sin in using it as when the remedy were not only prejudicial to themselves but also to others Another Remedy often urged is Obedience be it so This is a Remedy but when unjust and prejudicial and not only to the Liberty which God hath given to the governed but also to their Lives Goods and Honours they are not bound to use it and by reason of prejudicing another they should sin if they should use it Obedience is a Divine Precept and is to be yielded to a just and holy command but when it is referred to unjust and tyrannical commands it is not good but natural defence doth then succeed in its room Submission to unjust commands is Obedience in name but indeed an extreme disobedience towards God and the governed Gregory II. Quest 7. yields the reason Admomendi sunt subditi ne plus quam expedit sint subjecti ne quum student plus quam necesse est hominibus subjici compellantur etiam vitia eorum venerari That Subjects must be admonished that they make not themselves more subject than is convenient lest they are inforced to flatter them in their Vices whose subjects they make themselves more than they should Besides one abuse of Power and Authority gives a greater scandal to the World and is a cause of greater mischiefs than many disobediences and the Prince as more eminent is much more bound by his greater Obligation to God to do his duty Kings that have a serious intent to live Christianly in good earnest will be careful to observe the Commandments of God and that they be preferred before his own These Doctrines of Resistance and Passive Obedience have of late been very bitterly controverted by our Spiritual Guides and Mr. Miles Barne tells us That it is the duty of private Men to submit their judgments in matters of Religion to the determinations of those whom God hath constituted to be their Spiritual Guides and Governors in his Sermon preached before his Majesty October 17. 1675. which undeniably is false Doctrine and makes us not their Disciples but their Slaves and we are never the nearer the Truth if we do For Prester John may believe with Julian and John of Jerusalem with Jovian both Spiritual Guides and so the Position satisfied and yet the Controversie as indeterminable and as far undesided as before And for certain private Men are no more obliged to believe their Spiritual Guides because such than Spiritual Guides are obliged to believe private Men but both the one and the other are to be believed or disbelieved according to the Doctrines they do deliver are true or false But this is not the only false Doctrine he hath preached Besides his faculty of preaching false Doctrine he excels in the faculty of Railing and dares to Pulpit more against Julian than Michael the Archangel durst do against the Devil for in his Sermon on Luke 19. he tells us That amongst Phanaticks and Atheists transformed into malicious Fiends by the Hellish Divinity of that